"Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!!" I screamed, punching the wall beside me. There was no pain though, because here, there is no pain.

  I looked at the white and grey walls and tiled floor. At the many tables with holographic schematics hovering above them. The familiar disintegrators and fabricators. The sight of my old lab did well to calm down my panic at my situation and anger at my own stupidity. I took several deep breaths and then I turned around.

  Behind me was a weird sight. Where the white walls of the lab led to wooden shelves of a library, with paper books no less.

  A disjointed connection between environments and centuries in a mockery of reality.

  As I crossed the boundary into the library, it was... different. I couldn't put the difference into words, and I don't mean the visual difference, but the feeling it gave.

  I moved to the closest book and took it out of the shelf. When I opened it, I was overwhelmed with a vision, or more specifically... a memory.

  A memory of myself in the embrace of my mom, my real mom. Evelyn Blank. A smile on her face, me holding her finger with my tiny hands and a man approaching from the other side.

  With a thud, I closed the book. Closing my eyes to make sure I think of something else.

  Normally when I sleep I have no dreams, by choice of course. With almost perfect control over the mind, dreams become lucid as well and this... is my Dreamscape.

  During those first months after I had gotten it, I was in here every night doing many different things. Flying, exploring unreal and impossible landscapes, but eventually... the novelty died.

  I had tried to use it as a sort of simulation space, but in here I always subconsciously arrive at desired outcomes, which is why I said almost perfect control over the mind.

  Right now though? I just need time to think. I put the book back on the shelf and started strolling down the hallways of the library.

  Every once in a while I stop, take a book out and relive the moments stored in them, trying to both calm myself down and think of a plan to deal with my current situation.

  'Hmm?' Looking at a memory of reading a novel from my past life, I thought of something. Well, I still need to observe my surroundings to adjust my plan but, I smirked, this might work.

  An indeterminable amount of time later, I awoke with a pounding headache that faded soon after. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I was in a cage. Which is weird, why would they waste money on getting a human-sized cage when a simple cuff would suffice?

  Looking over myself, I was still wearing my clothes so it's not a worst-case scenario. Thankfully I had embedded the money I had stolen into my clothes instead of a pocket, so it's also still there.

  Looking beyond my cage, I saw a dark room with the only source of light being a single incandescent light bulb, flickering right above a slightly ajar metal door.

  My cage was near the door, while on the opposite wall behind numerous wooden crates were several other women, all between twenty and thirty years old, unconscious and chained to the wall.

  As I was observing, I heard two male voices through the ajar door speaking something in Romanian.

  "Here. I got us some drinks," the first said to the other man. "By the way, today's haul was really good. We should be ready for transporting them by tonight."

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "Yes, I wanted to ask about that. What's with the kid? We're already at capacity and there was no mention of kids in the contract," the first man asked, making me look at the other women in the room. 'They are talking about us like we're merchandise,' I thought, squeezing my fists. I was angry.

  "Hah, you're not gonna believe this. Andrei saw her sneaking peeks and saw us taking that last bitch, so he decided to take her with us," he said after taking a drink. "But what are we gonna do with a brat? She looked four or five, at least a teenager would be useful," the other grumbled.

  "You don't get it," the second man started again, "we're working with some sick motherfuckers. Besides, didn't you see how pretty she was? I'm pretty sure one of those guys would pay at the very least triple the normal price to become her new daddy, if you know what I mean. Heh?"

  After hearing that last sentence, I'd had enough. With one last look at the almost naked women on the other side of the room, I transfigured the cage door into a solid block of ash, letting it fall to the ground in a hip with a touch, albeit with some clouding.

  I decided to go along with my plan, though with some revisions. I can't really ensure the safety of the other women with this plan. Who knows what the ones I don't get to in time might do when they realize something's up. But that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

  I stepped out of the cage, after which I took a motorcycle helmet resting on a nearby crate. The helmet started to change in my hands, with waves going along its surface. It shrank in size, changing from dark green to a black that matched my outfit.

  I put on the helmet, rectifying one of my main mistakes when I first came here. Had I had head protection, with my bulletproof clothes and magic, I could have easily disposed of those guys right then and there and I wouldn't have been caught off guard.

  The helmet, was now made of an even more perfectly engineered mixture of celestium and graphene than my clothes, due to its physical resemblance to the head section of those space suits.

  Hiding behind the door, I peeked at the other side. There at a small table sat two guys in jackets, each armed with a pistol, playing what I assumed was poker. There were several bottles of drinks on the ground with another two on the table, but the two didn't seem that drunk.

  As they talked more, I identified them as Scum number one and Scum number two. My perception filter could work here if I were to expend the mana to make it specially potent, but that's not what I'm gonna do. Escaping was never my plan in the first place.

  Focusing on the minds of the two, I made them as relaxed and unguarded as possible before my strike. First, I waited until Scum number one played his turn, then I instantly focused my magic and transfigured his brain into a small glass bead, instantly and silently killing him.

  This was the first time I had killed anything in my two lives, but I had already resolved myself to do it in my Dreamscape, and their conversation had only strengthened this resolve.

  I took a deep breath, just as Scum number two was getting worked up about number one's non-responsiveness. I flexed my magic a second time, melding the guy's face together into one smooth surface made of skin. 'Hmm, I only wanted to close his mouth and nose to make sure he couldn't make a sound. I guess I still need more training.' I thought as I faced the other way, took off my helmet, and threw up my breakfast.

  Some of the things I had discovered about transfiguration came in handy when dealing with this. I had learned that one, I couldn't turn things into gases, and two, if I turned, for example, two things into one other thing, when dispelled it will turn back into two things. However, if I turned one thing into something else and crushed it to pieces, even dispelled it will stay in pieces.

  So with that in mind, I turned my vomit and the body of the dead Scum number one into liquid nitrogen, letting both vaporize as I made my way to the other Scum who was, although suffocating, still alive.

  By the time I got to him, he had already stopped moving, but I could tell he was still alive. I could feel his confusion and terror giving way to unconsciousness by the moment.

  Kneeling down near his head, I put my right hand on his forehead, focused my attention on his mind, closed my eyes, and imagined myself opening a door and going in.

  I had never done this before. I wasn't even sure if it was possible, but I found it surprisingly intuitive.

  It didn't take long for me to find what I had wanted from his memories, so after at most a couple dozen seconds I opened my eyes once more and got back on my feet, by which time Scum number two had already died from both the asphyxiation and the shock of having his memories forcibly... and admittedly crudely read.

  As I was thinking of the things I had learned, I turned him into liquid nitrogen too. Turning around, I suddenly got an idea, so I turned the metal door into a solid slab of metal connected to the wall, giving the women inside some protection.

  After I was done, I decided to take a break while going over my information again. I smirked. 'This might have been a blessing in disguise.'